Burning Letters
by FrostyStar15
Summary: Lucius finds out about the relationship and forces Draco to break up with Harry. He does, but leaves a secret code. Will Harry find it and realize what’s wrong? Contains Drarry, mentions of abuse, and some suicidal thoughts. Do not read if you are not comfortable reading. Additional warnings inside.
1. One

Draco slowly blinked his eyes open, waking up. His vision was blurry for the first few seconds and then the blur faded and Draco could see clearly.

He had to look around, just slightly, to remember where he was but the second he remembered everything came flooding back. The memories of his father finding out about him and Harry, and he only knew they were friends. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if his father found out that him and Harry were much more than friends.

He remembered being in the cellar, the one in the dungeons of the manor that his father used to keep him in if he disobeyed when he was younger. That punishment had stopped when Draco was old enough and strong enough to handle the curse.

Now the cellar was just used so that Draco was forced to watch as someone died, most of the time from wounds inflicted by his father. That was starting to happen more often, most of the time being an additional punishment if he dared to disobey his father.

It still made him sick every time, knowing that he wasn't able to do anything.

This time though, this punishment, had been so much worse... The person had looked so much like Harry. The only way he kept reminding himself it wasn't was that Harry's eyes were a different shade of green. Harry wasn't as skinny as this person. Harry's skin was just a couple shades tanner than the person in front of him.

It wasn't only that he knew his father had to have gone out of his way to find someone who looked so similar to Harry, but it was also what his father had forced him to do.

He had felt so sick, watching the person who his mind kept thinking was Harry shake and tremble on the ground. The man's body was thrashing, and Draco didn't know how but the screams seemed so far away. The gasps for breath in between the screams almost silent. What must have been the most sickening part was... it was because of him. He couldn't deny that the word of the curse had left his own mouth as his wand was pointed at this innocent person.

Suddenly the memory stopped, the feeling of his bed supporting his body preventing him from remembering any more of what had happened. Well at least in as vivid of detail what he had been remembering only seconds before. For that he was grateful, because at the back of his mind he knew that a flash of green had left his wand quite later. He also knew, as much as he tried to block the memory out, the two words that had left his mouth and accompanied the flash of green and the sudden silence. There had been no more screams or gasps. Part of Draco knew it was better that the main was no longer suffering, but another part of him just wanted to cry at the fact that it was all his fault.

He shook himself slightly, wincing just a bit, but a smile twitched at his lips for the slightest of a second when he was able to block out the memories completely. For now at least. He knew it wouldn't last.

He got up from the bed, barely flinching since he expected the pain. He got to his knees at the side of his bed, reaching under and seemingly searching for something. He found what he was looking for, an oak box, and pulled it out from under the bed.

He opened it and got out the things inside, a memory flashing through his head for a second or two.

"I'll know if you're hiding anything from me. Even if I have to tear your room apart to find it." That was word for word what his father had sneered at him just seconds before he passed out.

He shook his head once again and looked at what was in his hands. Drawings and poems Harry had made for him, as well as the summer's worth of letters exchanged between them. It would hurt to get rid of any of it, of any of the gifts, of the memories, but he knew what he had to do. He knew it was necessary. If he wasn't absolutely sure about that he wouldn't have even been thinking about getting rid of these things.

He took a couple seconds to look through them, choosing to keep one thing. It was a drawing of a lion and a dragon, their noses touching. Under them in small writing, writing he would've know was Harry's even if he hadn't been given the drawing by Harry himself, was five words:

I love you my Dragon

The words brought tears to his eyes. He didn't look at the other drawings in detail, knowing he would just want to keep them all if he did. Instead he folded the drawings into a small square and slipped it into a secret inside pocket in his robe that he knew his father wouldn't find.

He also thought for a second and bit his lip, unclasping the locket Harry had given him from around his neck.

He got a piece of paper and wrote on it quickly.

I love you Lion

I just want you to know that

If his father found out where the jewelry had came from, and what he and Harry really were, and made him give it to him he assumed his father would send it to Harry as a sign Draco didn't love him.

He just wanted to make sure there was a chance Harry wouldn't think that.

He folded and put the paper in the small locket and clasped it back around his neck like it had been before.

He breathed in deeply and stood back up, the letters as well as remaining drawings and poems in his hands. He held them tight to his chest as he left his room. Every step he took was cautious and he was looking around nervously, not wanting to even risk his father finding him in the act of getting rid of all of these things.

He got to the third floor of the manor, the fourth if the dungeons counted. Although his bedroom was on the floor above ground level, so he had only gone up one floor.

He took the stairs, his pace quickening along with his heartbeat.

He stopped on the roof, then walked to the edge. He suddenly realized he didn't only have one option.

He could burn all the letters, poems, and drawings like he had originally planned or... he could jump. From this hight he would most certainly die and then it wouldn't matter if his father found out about him and Harry. And he wouldn't have to get rid of all of the memories he was holding.

He took too long to decide. Just as he was about to make up his mind he heard the familiar footsteps of his father and before he could begin to react a stunning spell hit him.

He fell, the papers falling and going everywhere.

Lucius read a few of the letters, enough to know exactly what Harry and Draco were. He was pissed but all he did for now was start a fire, burning most of the papers. A few didn't burn but most did. He then levitated Draco and took him down to the dungeons. He chained Draco's wrists and ankles to the wall and set up a mirror. It was one that showed Potter, although not enough for Lucius to know where exactly Potter was.

He was hoping it would be enough to scare Draco into following through with Lucius's current plan and listening to his orders.

Lucius left the dungeons but put up an alarm to tell him when Draco woke up.

Draco started to come too after a few hours, feeling the metal around both his wrists and his ankles. His head was hanging down but when he looked up his eyes landed directly on the mirror.

Horror filled him, realizing quickly that his father had to have read some of the letters, at least, and found out what they were. And the mirror meant that Harry wasn't safe. It meant Lucius could locate Harry.

The alarm spell he had set alerted Lucius that Draco had woke up and so he headed to the cellar, a different one than he had had Draco torture and kill some one in earlier that day.

Lucius wasn't fazed by the murder. And he though it was time that Draco got used to it as well. It was one, of several, reasons the relationship with the Potter boy that to go. Potter was making Draco weak and that was something Draco didn't need. In fact, Draco needed the exact opposite. Which is why he would be getting the mark in a ceremony that would take place in three days.

"You told me you two were just friends. I should've known you were lying." Lucius said, glaring a bit at him. "You'll pay for that one." He stood up and did a couple spells, a desk appearing in front of Draco with parchment, an ink pot, and a quill on it. Lucius made the chains disappear and Draco was sat on a chair. His ankles were chained to the chair and there was a metal loop around his neck that was chained to the wall. There was slack so he could move his head.

"Write him a letter, explaining that you never even liked him and that you were manipulating him," Lucius said. "I'll be back in an hour. It had better be done," he said and left. He had things to plan, and an hour would be the perfect amount of time to take care of them.

Draco looked down, trembling slightly. He had to do it but... he didn't want to lose Harry. He didn't know if he could handle losing him.

His eyes were starting to fill with tears, making his vision blurry. He had to do what his father said or he knew his father would hurt Harry. The mirror, which Draco couldn't stop glancing at, was a sure sign Lucius could easily find Harry.

He looked at the parchment, blinking the tears from his eyes, and started writing. His hand was shaky as he wrote.

'Harry,

I Hope you understand. I need to ExpLain something. I was maniPulating you from the start. I never loved you and Most of thE things I told you were lies. I'm ending it.

-Draco'

He looked over the letter. He just hoped Harry understood. HELP ME was spelled in letters that shouldn't be capitalized. His father shouldn't notice if he just glanced over it.

It was his only hope at getting Harry to understand he wasn't doing this willingly, unless his father sent the locket with the letter.

He didn't know how long it was before his father came back, it felt like a long time but he assumed it was about an hour.

"Give me the necklace and ring," Lucius said as he walked in. Draco really didn't want to give up the latter but he took the ring, which was a promise ring that Harry had given him the day before summer vacation, off and set it on the desk, then took off the necklace, which he was willing to give because that had been part of his own plan, that Harry had given him for his birthday. They both went together, being a mix of rose gold and a couple small diamonds. He really liked them and he didn't want to let Lucius have them but he knew he had to. Especially the necklace is he wanted a higher chance for Harry to realize what was going on.

Lucius picked up the ring and necklace and letter. He read over the letter and put it in an envelope with the ring and necklace. "Your penmanship is worse than I thought. Get that better or else," then he turned and walked away. He hadn't seen anything like a code so he wasn't worried much.

Draco's head dropped, hitting the table with a thud. His eyes were stinging with tears and he wasn't going to let himself cry. He couldn't. If Harry didn't realize the code or open the locket then he might believe the letter... and then Harry would hate him forever...

He couldn't hold it back anymore and started trembling slightly as he started crying.

**A/N: this is the rewritten and more in-depth chapter one. I hope you like it.**

**Should I let Draco get the dark mark? Or should he get saved before then?**


	2. Two

Lucius went to the owlery of Malfoy manor and sent the letter off. He didn't know what Draco was up to, and so he thought his plan had worked. Potter would be angry and upset, and therefore he would be easy to attack and get rid of. The dark lord would be very happy that Lucius was the one who killed Potter and he would let Lucius become his second in command once again, like in the first war.

He watched the owl fly off with the envelope and he went to his study, deciding that Draco deserved to be left chained in the dungeons of the manor for awhile since he had decided to lie and have a relationship with a boy, and to make it worse that boy was Harry Potter. He knew Draco could be foolish sometimes but he didn't know that his son could be this stupid.

Currently, Lucius had a plan. He would be the one to bring Potter to his lord, the one to maybe even kill Potter. And he would make Draco get the mark. The ceremony would actually be tomorrow. Normally they would wait until one of the official ceremonies but Lucius didn't want to risk it.

He didn't want Draco to have time to escape.

He was smirking, his gaze cold, as he watched the owl fly off.

Harry was in Ron's room at the Dursley's. He was a bit worried about Draco but he knew he was overreacting. His boyfriend hadn't responded to his latest letter and Hedwig had returned back with it unopened.

He had figured it just wasn't safe to drop it off then.

He was about to try and send it again when an owl that he recognized as Draco's flew through the open window and into the room. The owl perched on the corner of the bed frame, dropping a letter onto the bed.

Harry picked it up, wondering why it was heavier than a normal letter.

Maybe there was some kind of gift? Draco did that sometimes.

He opened it and first took the letter out and read it.

His blood ran cold and he read the letter over and over to make sure he was actually reading it correctly.

How could... he had thought... He had thought Draco was actually nice, actually liked him. And even though he had read the letter he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.

It was then that he noticed, despite the fact he was torn between believing and not believing the letter, that Draco's normally neat and exact handwriting had several mistakes. And there were a bunch of mistakes that bothered Harry. He knew something wasn't right.

Harry read the letter once more, this time focusing on the mistakes and not the contents of the letter. Some of the letters were miscapitalized and overall the writing was just shaky. Like Draco had been shaking when he wrote it.

So, instead of believing it, he decided not to. Maybe the other things in the letter would give some explanation.

First he pulled out the ring and he felt a sharp feeling go through his chest when he saw the promise ring that he knew for a fact Draco had adored. He felt more and more like something was wrong.

He set the ring down on the bed and got out the locket. He swallowed and opened it, he knew Draco was clever and maybe the Slytherin had reasons for this.

He saw the small piece of paper and unfolded it, a feeling of relief followed by worry going through him.

So... the letter wasn't real... but then why had Draco sent it? Was Draco in trouble?

He was really worried but... it was late. And he knew Hermione would be able to help when she got here in the morning.

He didn't want to wait but he had no other clues, other than the mistakes in the letter and the fact that Draco still loved him, to go on. And he had no idea how they would be useful.

So, despite the pain going through him, he sent the owl off after giving it a treat, then put the jewelry and letter into his robe. He got ready for bed, keeping the small note in his hand as he settled down and fell asleep. Ron was already in the room and asleep.

Harry didn't sleep peacefully, he kept tossing and turning, and waking up. But eventually morning came and Harry finally allowed himself to get up. He got dressed in casual wear and got the letter and put it in his pants pocket, then woke Ron and went to Breakfast.

He was nervous, the worry not letting him think. He felt like he might get sick.

Mrs. Weasley had made pancakes, which he remembered with a pang were Draco's favorite. He could barely eat and he was mostly pushing the food around on his plate.

Mrs. Weasley tried to get him to eat but he would just shake his head. He didn't think he physically could.

When the door opened he got up, almost sighing in relief that Hermione was here. She would be able to help, she always knew what to do. Harry just hoped this wasn't one of the rare times she was as lost as he was.

He waited, nervously, as she said hello to everyone. He then pulled her away and up to Ron's room, offering no explanation. Hermione knew him well enough that she just followed, although she did seem concerned.

Since only Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Pansy, and Blaise knew about him and Draco being together he didn't want any of the other Weasley's finding out. He knew that Draco's safety would be more at risk the more people that knew.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked as soon as they were in the room. She could tell something was really worrying the boy who she thought of as her brother.

"It's Draco... something's wrong. I got this yesterday," he got the letter out of his pocket and unfolded it before handing it to her. He waited a few seconds, watching the disbelief and confused wash across her features as she read it.

"But these came with it." He held out the ring and locket but wasn't willing to get go of either. "And this was inside the locket," he reluctantly handed her the small note.

Hermione read both the letter, for a second time, and the note. She was confused but she felt like there was something more to the letter.

"Can I have a piece of parchment and a quill?" She asked Harry, knowing that even if it was something small he needed a distraction. Even just momentarily.

He quickly got the items and handed them to her, hoping she was onto something.

She set the parchment on a small table in the boys room and wrote down all the letters that were incorrect. She had seen enough of Draco's cute letters to Harry that she knew the blonde didn't make mistakes like that and then send a letter that had those mistakes. There had to be something special about the letters.

As soon as they were all written down she noticed it. "Harry-" she turned to the boy, only to see he had stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it, grasping his head and letting out little whimpers.

Harry had felt his scar burn and he had managed to collapse onto the bed instead of the floor.

He recognized where he was, it was the hall where Voldemort's meetings took place. Which meant he was in Voldemort's head.

He tried to leave but couldn't, and it didn't take long for him to realize that this was no ordinary meeting.

The large doors opened, he could see them do so, and he felt a cold chill go through him. Because walking into the hall was Lucius Malfoy, and his hand was on Draco's shoulder.

Harry wanted to scream, wanted to actually be there so that whatever was about to happen to Draco, and he was certain there was something, wouldn't happen. But he knew he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but watch in horror as what happened, happened.

"Lucius." Harry heard the hiss of Voldemort's voice. As the blondes eyes connected with Voldemort's, and as such Harry's, Voldemort entered Lucius's mind.

It went through everything and Harry was horrified at what the death eater had made Draco do. The torture and the murder, and then the letter.

Voldemort pulled out of Lucius's mind and told him to go back. Lucius went to an empty seat, putting on his death eater mask.

That left Draco by himself, in front of Voldemort, who knew everything.

Harry wanted to do anything that would give Draco room to escape but he knew that was impossible. He couldn't even close his eyes as Voldemort calmly raised his wand so that it was pointed at Draco, then as he heard the torture curse leave Voldemort's mouth in that slight hiss of a voice.

Draco seemed to resist for about half a second, but he couldn't resist the full brunt of the dark lords magic, most certainly not when it was the torture curse.

Draco fell to his knees, bloodcurdling screams leaving his mouth.

All the death eaters watched, their emotions ranging from slight sympathy to pure glee.

Voldemort seemed emotionless, stoic, and Harry felt close to crying.

Voldemort stopped the curse just as Draco looked to be entering the state where he might not come out of this sane. Draco seemed dazed but Harry knew if given the proper time to heal, Draco would recover completely, at least in the physical sense. He wasn't sure if Draco would be okay mentally, and even if it was possible for him to heal mentally from the things Harry was aware of, he knew it would take a long time.

And he knew this wasn't the end, Voldemort was definitely going to do more.

Harry just wanted to save Draco but he couldn't do anything, no matter how hard he tried all he could do was watch as the love of his life was torture by the dark lord.

"Stand up." It was a hissed order and Harry could see the pain it put Draco through to listen to the order.

Draco stood up shakily, knowing that the agony would get so much worse if he didn't listen.

"Your left arm." As soon as the hiss left Voldemort's mouth Harry wanted to scream. He wanted to rip this mans heart out. He knew exactly what Voldemort had planned and it made him want even more to be able to do anything and not just sit here completely useless.

Draco felt a spark of fear and horror go through him. He didn't want to listen to this man, if he could even be considered a man anymore. He wanted to cry, he wanted to run, but he knew doing either would get him killed, or at the very least tortured more. He felt tears prickle at his eyes but he blinked them away.

He rolled up the sleeve of his robe on his left arm, holding it out.

He caught one last glimpse at the pale skin of his forearm before a hiss left the dark lords mouth, a parstletongue spell, and a dark green fog encased his left forearm.

It took everything in him not to scream, his right hand closing into a fist tight enough that his nails dug into the skin.

When the smoke cleared the rich black dark mark was on his forearm, magically tattooed into his skin. And Draco knew it would be there forever, unless a way to remove it was discovered.

Harry was suddenly out of Voldemort's mind. He was on the bed and Hermione was trying to get him out of it. She was sat beside him.

Harry was crying, he could feel the tears running down his cheeks.

"It's... it's too late..." he whispered. He now knew what Draco had needed when he sent the letter. He had needed help. Last night, not this morning when Hermione was here to help him. But now it was too late to stop Draco from forever having the mark of that monster on his skin.

"Harry... what do you mean? What happened?" She asked, hoping that Draco was okay. Something had happened, she knew that for sure, but she had no idea what where there were so many things it could be.

"Voldemort marked him, Hermione. It's too late." Harry said quietly. He sounded broken. He had failed Draco, the love of his life.

Harry sat up, managing to not cry more than he already had. Draco needed help. Even if he was marked, Harry couldn't leave him there. He knew if Draco stayed there he might be hurt or worse.

"We have to get him out. I can't leave him there." Harry said quietly. He wiped the tears from his face and left the room, not waiting for Hermione's response to what he had said.


End file.
